the future of Hollywood and beyond. Revisioning entertainment, info-tainment and edu-tainment for the 21st century by author and keynote speaker Joyce Schwarz,media futurist, joyceschwarz@gmail.com www.jcombusinessdevelopment.com

Why survive when you can thrive if you know the secrets of the leaders in the online retail marketplace? According to INTERNET RETAILER MAGAZINE, Internet marketing is up 21.4 percent for 2008 based on their survey in progress of the top 500 retailers.

Find out why some online marketers are thriving and other retailers are barely surviving at the Internet Merchants Association (IMA) Third Annual Conference in Las Vegas, March 16-18, 2009.

This leading e-commerce conference will be headquartered at the Sands Expo Center in Las Vegas. The Internet Merchants Association Conference is being held again this year in conjunction with the ASD/AMD Variety Merchandise Show, Gift Expo and Jewelry show organized by Nielsen Business Media.

TO REGISTER NOW:

To register for the conference, which is open to, members and non-members of the Internet Merchants Association, go to http://www.imalasvegas.com

“At the Internet Merchants Associations third annual conference our members and other e-commerce sellers, of all sizes, will learn and gather inside information from some of the top industry leaders,” explains Steve Grossberg, President, www.imamerchant.org. Grossberg is also pleased to announce that Aaron Magness, Zappos.com Business Development guru will be the featured keynote speaker for this year’s Internet Merchants Assn Conference (IMA) which is located at the Sands Expo Center on March 17 & 18.

KEYNOTE SPEAKER:

Aaron Magness is well prepared to share success stories with the audience since he has worked in Business Development in retail for over 8 years. His career has taken him through sales, operations and all the grunt work it takes to make his team successful. He joined Zappos.com with a primary focus in business development. However, his role has grown to include oversight of Brand Marketing, PR and Social Media as well as Business Development. He received his BBA from University of Wisconsin – Madison with a double major of Marketing and Management & Human Resources.

According to Magness’ bio, he is an adventurer at heart who has a droll sense of humor, which makes him a perfect keynoter during this challenging economy. Magness’ biography explains that people often do the stupid stuff while they are still in school; but he chose to run with the bulls in Pamplona, Spain only five weeks before his wedding day. Luckily, he made it out alive. Also, while not really enjoying either event, he is a marathoner and triathlete. IMA’s Grossberg says, “Magness athletic prowess and daring outlook will inspire many retailers online & offline who are concerned about market fluctuations.”

ZAPPOS PRE-CONFERENCE ON-SITE TOUR: On Monday, March 16, prior to the start of the conference, the Internet Merchant’s Association has arranged a special on-location tour of Zappos.com and a chance to meet and greet Tony Hsieh, President of Zappos and an opportunity for some conference attendees to actually tour the Zappos headquarters is located nearby in Henderson, Nevada.

Two Full Days of Educational Workshops!

The Internet Merchants Assn. Conference is held this year in conjunction with the ASD/AMD Variety Merchandise Show, the ASD/AMD Gift Expo and the ASD/AMD Jewelry show, A series of free introductory classes at the adjacent ASD/AMD show on Monday, March 16 will give prospective marketers attending that major event an opportunity to gain better insight into the Internet Merchants arena.

Then on Tuesday and Wednesday, IMA’s own conference will feature two full days of workshops and roundtables on such topical subjects as: the rise of social networking and linking tools, how to save on shipping and website design updates in addition to comparison shopping systems and guerrilla marketing & publicity to expand your advertising budget.

SPONSOR & INTERACTIVE DEMO SPACES: A limited number of sponsor and interactive display opportunities are still available for the IMA Conference March 17-18 in Las Vegas. To find out more about membership, sponsorship and possible speaking slots for executives call: Joyce Schwarz, JCOM, 310-822-3119 or email joyceschwarz@gmail.com

ABOUT IMA: Internet Merchants AssociationIMA is a 501.c6 nonprofit trade organization. For more information on membership go to http://www.imamerchant.org. To sign up for the Internet Merchant’s Association Third Annual conference go to http://www.imalasvegas.com

Here is a sample of the clients that JCOM/Joyce Schwarz provides marketing, business development and corporate positioning. A more complete list is on the www.joycecom.com website or you can email joycecom@aol.com or call Joyce @ 310-822-3119 to get an album of a specific vertical area of expertise including Travel/Tourism, Entertainment, Packaged Goods, Technology, Emerging Tech, Special Events & more.